Reading v Newcastle United

[@yourservice 67]

[Aeris 0]

Of course. But what I'm saying is, we can't just expect the points just because it's Reading.

 

Aha, so the rest of the season we should just expect us to play shit and be happy with what we get from that...

Edited September 29, 2012 by Aeris

[Dr Gloom 19784]

I fancied a win against these. relieved to come away with a point in the end. the big difference between this season and last season is the injuries. the lack of depth in the squad was the same last season but we managed to play a settled team for large parts. the other big difference is we might have scraped a win last season after putting in a similar performance. you could argue we're getting the results the performances deserve so far, where last year there were more tha a few games where we'd win while playing pretty poorly.

[Park Life 70]

I fancied a win against these. relieved to come away with a point in the end. the big difference between this season and last season is the injuries. the lack of depth in the squad was the same last season but we managed to play a settled team for large parts. the other big difference is we might have scraped a win last season after putting in a similar performance. you could argue we're getting the results the performances deserve so far, where last year there were more tha a few games where we'd win while playing pretty poorly.

 

Agreed.

[wolfy 12]

Aha, so the rest of the season we should just expect us to play shit and be happy with what we get from that...

What are you talking about?

 

We played the game and got a draw away from home whilst playing shite.

I don't expect the team to play shit at any time..but unfortunately we will play shit at times, like most other teams will.

 

We go into games with the hope of taking all 3 points, yet we have no right to expect 3 points away from home.

[wolfy 12]

Some teams will get a good old tonking from us soon enough and some teams we think are there for the taking will probably give us a lesson.

We will also shock a few bigger teams this season who's fans expect to tonk us...

That's football and it's a point gained rather than 2 points lost.

[Park Life 70]

There is a dislocation between the midfield (too deep and defensive minded) and the forwards. Hatem has been bridging this but he can't do it every game.

[Ally 0]

Agree Parky. Just no creativity. Tiote and Jonas (and Bigi from what I've seen) are all good players in their own right but are never going to create goals for you. We must play 4-3-3 and use Cabaye as the attacking of

the 3.

 

Name me a successful team in the PL who play 4-4-2

[Tooj 17]

Agree Parky. Just no creativity. Tiote and Jonas (and Bigi from what I've seen) are all good players in their own right but are never going to create goals for you. We must play 4-3-3 and use Cabaye as the attacking of

the 3.

 

Name me a successful team in the PL who play 4-4-2

 

Man Utd do a lot.

[OTF 6134]

There is a dislocation between the midfield (too deep and defensive minded) and the forwards. Hatem has been bridging this but he can't do it every game.

 

Agree. In this game there was even a disconnect between the defense and our midfield at various stages. When Taylor went off even our defense had a disconnect and no leadership. In general we lack direction and leadership. Coloccini back out there will make a huge difference, hopefully we see Cabaye come back into form as well. Ferguson looks like being an excellent option to bring off the bench - it's painful watching Jonas and Santon avoid crossing with their left foot and subsequently preventing any early dangerous balls into the box.

 

[Kid Dynamite 5899]

Id love to know the stats for games started in the middle by Ba for goals scored. Must be nearly 1 in 1

[JawD 31]

Playing shite and picking up points is good. Playing shite every game is not.

[Monroe Transfer 0]

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew: "We are struggling for rhythm this year, and are not playing with the same exuberance as last year and today was a sign of that. We can't rely on spirit all the time. No mistake, [Demba Ba's second goal] hit his hand. Shane Ferguson put the ball in a great area, and it hit Demba's head and hit his hand but it's about the delivery of the ball. Reading gave us a going over today, I have no worries about them staying in this division."

 

Least he's honest.

[OTF 6134]

Reading weren't particularly good IMO. Far the better team, but I don't agree with Pardew's comments. They dragged us down to playing a championship level game and did enough to beat us simply because our defense was woefully bad.

[The Mighty Hog 336]

[Monroe Transfer 0]

Stunning strike that was. He's a special player. I can't believe some people were so nonchalant about the possibility of him leaving in the summer.

 

Need to get his mate Cisse back to his best though. Surely the two of them can play together. It has to come together eventually.

[Christmas Tree 3997]

Has the penny dropped yet Alan?

[Monroe Transfer 0]

Have you picked up the pieces of your broken record yet CT?

[Park Life 70]

Man Utd do a lot.

 

Getting killed by Spurs atm.

[Tooj 17]

 

Getting killed by Spurs atm.

AVB eh?

[Asprilla 96]

That is one of the finest goals I have ever seen.

[Park Life 70]

AVB eh?

 

[Guest Your Name Here]

Playing shite and picking up points is good. Playing shite every game is not.

The worry has to be what happens when our luck runs out. Our goal difference last season shows that we absolutely maximised our performance to points ratio. This season we've been saved by dodgy refereeing decisions in two games, and a by a once a season (or twice if your HBA) wonder goal at home to Villa. We could easily have been sitting in 13th with Manchester United and Sunderland away coming up - with a squad not deep enough to deal with a fairly normal injury situation and european competition.

 

Over the long term performances count and our performances under Pardew have been distinctly average more often or not. He was lucky to get the NUFC job in the first place, lucky to inherit a unified squad in a healthy position and lucky to have Graham Carr in place when he arrived. When his lucky streak comes to an end all this talk about stability and eight year deals is going to look like the hot air it is.

 

The team spirt he inherited can't be ignored, but it can only carry a team for so long.

Edited September 29, 2012 by Your Name Here

[@yourservice 67]

[Monroe Transfer 0]

The worry has to be what happens when our luck runs out. Our goal difference last season shows that we absolutely maximised our performance to points ratio. This season we've been saved by dodgy refereeing decisions in two games, and a by a once a season (or twice if your HBA) wonder goal at home to Villa. We could easily have been sitting in 13th with Manchester United and Sunderland away coming up - with a squad not deep enough to deal with a fairly normal injury situation and european competition.

 

Over the long term performances count and our performances under Pardew have been distinctly average more often or not. He was lucky to get the NUFC job in the first place, lucky to inherit a unified squad in a healthy position and lucky to have Graham Carr in place when he arrived. When his lucky streak comes to an end all this talk about stability and eight year deals is going to look like the hot air it is.

 

The team spirt he inherited can't be ignored, but it can only carry a team for so long.

 

Why can't you put our goal difference last season down also to never scoring more than 3 in single game?

 

Also I find this idea that a club/a manager can be so "lucky" for so long pretty cynical and silly. Just feels like twisting something to make it sound worse than it is. In my opinion.